Calls to 1800 numbers are supposed to now be free no matter what kind of mobile plan you are on. While most of the major Australian carriers have got on board and made calls free across all their plans, there are some laggards.

16 October 2014

Do you have a few far-flung relatives around the globe that you haven’t been in touch with for a while? If you’re a Vodafone customer, you can make free international calls this weekend in a bid to lessen your guilt. (The catch is that only 10 overseas locations are covered.)

9 October 2014

1800 and 13 numbers are often promoted as “freecall”, but that isn’t necessarily the case if you’re calling from a mobile. Telstra has reduced the confusion for its customers a little by making calls to 1800 numbers free from all its mobile plans, both prepaid and postpaid.

1 July 2014

Well, this seems overdue. While some mobile providers have long offered free calls to 13, 1300 and 1800 numbers, in their plans, many others haven’t. Regulator the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) had originally planned to introduce legislation in January 2015 making fee-free calls compulsory, but now the major telcos have agreed to make at least some of those calls free ahead of that deadline.

26 January 2014

Android: The next time someone calls you, you might be able to check out their recent Facebook status, find out if it’s their birthday, or see the last text messages you shared with them, thanks to a new app called TalkSide.

17 January 2013

iOS/Android: Free messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Viber are handy for free messaging to other people with the same app installed, but what happens when you want to make a call to someone on a regular number? FooTalk is a newly-launched VOIP app which offers relatively cheap rates for calls.

19 December 2012

Prepaid calling cards can be a good way to use the landline for international calls when you’re staying with family at Christmas, but you need to make sure you pick the right one. An analysis of calling cards by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) found that 40 per cent of cards on the Australian market had “significant problems”.

9 November 2012

One argument sometimes used against voice over internet protocol (VOIP) telephone services is that they don’t always identify your location when you make a call to the 000 emergency number. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is taking TPG to court for a more fundamental problem: a six-month period where some of TPG’s phone subscribers apparently couldn’t access 000 at all.

8 August 2012

Android: Always being told by your mother that you don’t call often enough? Not staying in touch with enough work clients? Nextcall is a simple Android app which ranks your important contacts based on when you last called them, helping ensure you make regular calls to important people.